The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for sealing an iatrogenic puncture in a vessel formed in conjunction with a diagnostic or therapeutic treatment. More particularly, the present invention provides apparatus comprising an introducer sheath including a puncture site closure device comprising an expandable clip with elastic memory.
Catheterization and interventional procedures, such as angioplasty and stenting, generally are performed by inserting a hollow needle through a patient""s skin and muscle tissue into the vascular system. A guide wire then is passed through the needle lumen into the patient""s blood vessel. The needle is removed and an introducer sheath is advanced over the guide wire into the vessel. A catheter typically is passed through the lumen of the introducer sheath and advanced over the guide wire into position for a medical procedure. The introducer sheath therefore facilitates insertion of various devices into the vessel while minimizing trauma to the vessel wall and minimizing blood loss during a procedure.
Upon completion of the medical procedure, the catheter and introducer sheath are removed, leaving a puncture site in the vessel. Commonly, external pressure is applied until clotting and wound sealing occurs. However, this procedure is time consuming and expensive, requiring as much as an hour of a physician""s or nurse""s time, is uncomfortable for the patient, and requires that the patient be immobilized in the operating room, cathlab, or holding area. Furthermore, a risk of hematoma exists from bleeding prior to hemostasis.
Various apparatus have been developed for percutaneously sealing a vascular puncture by occluding or suturing the puncture site. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,192,302 and 5,222,974 to Kensey et al., describe the use of a biodegradable plug delivered through the introducer sheath into the puncture site. When deployed, the plug seals the vessel and provides hemostasis. Such devices have been slow to gain acceptance in the medical community, however, due to difficulties encountered in positioning the plug within the vessel. Moreover, the agents used to occlude the puncture site are animal-derived, typically collagen-based. Thus, a risk of adverse immunoresponse exists.
Another previously known technique comprises percutaneously suturing the puncture site with specialized apparatus. Such apparatus is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,184 to Hathaway et al. While percutaneous suturing devices may be effective, a significant degree of skill may be required on the part of the practitioner. Because such devices are mechanically complex, they tend to be relatively expensive to manufacture.
Surgical staples and resilient clips for external skin wound closure are well known in the art, Examples include U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,390 to Brown and U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,405 to Yacoubian et al, which both describe resiliently deformable closure devices suitable for manual external application.
To reduce the cost and complexity of percutaneous puncture closure devices, such devices employing resilient clips or staples have been developed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,354 to Tovey et al. describes the use of resilient clips in conjunction with a trocar to close abdominal puncture wounds. U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,846 to Virnich et al. describes a specialized apparatus for closing a vascular puncture site with a plastically deformable clip. The apparatus preferably is advanced over a guide wire through a cannula to the surface of the puncture site, where the staple-like clips are delivered to close the wound.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,782,861 to Cragg et al. describes specialized apparatus for closing a puncture site with a detachable clip. The apparatus comprises a hollow shaft, having a distal end formed with one or more opposed pairs of resilient grasping prongs, that is advanced over a guide wire through a coaxial hollow tube to a position at the distal end of the tube just proximal of the puncture.
The grasping prongs are extended beyond the distal end of the tube to grasp the vessel on opposing sides of the puncture. The shaft then is partially retracted, causing the prongs to contract within the tube, thereby sealing the puncture site. Both of the devices described in the foregoing patents have the drawback that a separate device must be deployed through the introducer sheath to close the puncture site, thus prolonging the procedure. Moreover, both devices require relatively complex apparatus and involve time consuming manipulation to achieve hemostasis.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide apparatus and methods suitable for vascular puncture closure that overcome the disadvantages of previously known devices.
It also would be desirable to provide apparatus and methods for vascular puncture closure that quickly and effectively achieve hemostasis.
It further would be desirable to provide vascular puncture closure apparatus and methods that do not require the introduction of additional apparatus at the completion of the catheterization procedure to achieve closure.
It still further would be desirable to provide apparatus and methods suitable for vascular puncture closure that do not introduce animal-derived material into the bloodstream.
It would be desirable to provide vascular puncture closure apparatus and methods that are safe, lower cost, and easy to use.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide vascular puncture closure apparatus and methods that overcome disadvantages of previously known devices.
It also is an object of this invention to provide apparatus and methods suitable for vascular puncture closure that quickly and effectively achieve hemostasis.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide apparatus and methods for vascular puncture closure that do not require the introduction of additional apparatus at the completion of the catheterization procedure to achieve closure.
It is another object of this invention to provide vascular puncture closure apparatus and methods that do not introduce animal-derived material into the bloodstream.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide vascular puncture closure apparatus and methods that are safe, lower cost, and easy to use.
These and other objects of the present invention are accomplished by providing a vascular introducer sheath having an integrated wound closure component. The closure component consists of a resilient spring clip disposed on and advanceable over the exterior of the introducer sheath in an expanded delivery configuration until opposite sides of the clip pierce a vessel on opposite sides of a puncture site. The introducer sheath is then withdrawn, enabling the spring clip to contract to its unstressed deployed configuration, thereby drawing opposite sides of the puncture together and closing the wound. Means also are provided for confirming when the spring clip has engaged the vessel wall, thereby indicating to the surgeon that the clip may be deployed and the introducer sheath may be withdrawn. Alternative embodiments of the spring clip also are provided.
Advantageously, the closure component is inexpensively integrated into a standard introducer sheath, thereby eliminating the need for a separate closure device at the conclusion of a catheterization procedure. The present invention provides a quick, safe, effective and easy-to-use technique for wound closure that overcomes drawbacks of previously known devices. Methods of using the apparatus of the present invention also are provided.